Friday, May 17, 2013

Inspirational films for the YA writer

I don't know about you guys, but movies are very inspirational for me as a writer of YA. Seeing young adults react to situations and hearing their cadences and slang is so helpful in my own writing process. So, today I'd like to throw up some of my favorite young adult movies.

Can't Hardly Wait


So, maybe I'm dating myself here, but I feel like despite this being a very 90's movie, it still carries a lot of what it feels like to be a teenager. It deals with the different high school stereotypes, the realization that graduation is a sort of end of an era, and that first love euphoria. Plus, Seth Green is genius.


Any John Hughes Film

Again, I'm dating myself, but these films just feel timeless to me. There's not much I can say about these that hasn't already been said. If you haven't seen them all, what is wrong with you?


Easy A
This is a more modern teenage voice that I adore. Again, not much I can say. Watch it, love it, and be inspired.

Mean Girls
I did a post similar to this one a while back on my blog. For that one, I asked my teenage niece for movies she and her friends quoted all the time. Mean Girls was the first one she said. It's laugh out loud funny, witty, and has some of the best one-liners.

The First Time
This is the last one I'm going to mention since this post is already long and picturey and I could go on for a while. I just watched this movie yesterday. I wasn't expecting much and was super shocked (and elated) that I got so much more. This felt like a YA contemporary novel come to life. I highly recommend it!

And there you have it. A jumping off point for inspirational films for the YA writer. But let's continue the conversation because I always need more! 


Do you have some films or even TV shows that are great representations of the teenager's life?

9 secret replies:

  1. 10 Things I Hate About You is the one that instantly comes to mind for me. Such a fun adaptation of the Taming of the Shrew. :)

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  2. Easy A is one of my favorite movies. Emma Stone is so good in it. I agree with Noelle, 10 Things I Hate About You was a movie I obsessively watched when I was a teen. Plus, it has Heath Ledger in it. I haven't heard of The First Time but now I'll have to watch it.

    Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Youth Revolt are two others I can think of, but they're both based off of YA books so ... that's kind of cheating.

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    1. Omg, Nick and Norah's is amazing! So smart and real. I'll have to watch Youth Revolt.

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  4. My friends and I have been quoting Mean Girls for years now, and it still amazes my how many people outside our group recognise it. It seems to go beyond the audience that were teenage girls at the time it was released.

    Love Easy A and Ten Things I Hate About You. I also really like Wild Child, it kind of amped up the British and American stereotypes, but there's something quite fresh about it and it always makes me feel like I'm fourteen again when I watch it!

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    1. Will definitely watch Wild Child now that you've recommended it!

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  5. I Love these movies!! The one's I've seen anyway...I'm making a note to watch the three up there I haven't seen.

    I'm going to sound old by I'll say it anyway...CLUELESS is one my favoritest movies of all time. When I saw Mean Girls, it was like the sequel to Clueless I've never knew I wanted. Lol! (I know, right!)

    I quote those movies more than anything. Those and Buffy. ^_^

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  6. Most of the books are inspired by real story or the imagination of the writers . The book's are great for producing new ideas I usually read books for the new ideas .

    Inspirational Speaker

    Thanks
    Mark Duin

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